Blues

Rob Endicott is a classically trained trumpeter and blues musician in his own right. For the forseeable future, however, he has donned a different hat: Board Chairman of the National Blues Museum, which has its grand opening on Saturday.

“It touches something deep in the American soul, this music,” Endicott told St. Louis on the Air contributor Steve Potter.

St. Louis was home to the late, great jazz musician Clark Terry, who died in last year at the age of 94.

Contemporary trumpet virtuoso Byron Stripling was one of the many jazz musicians, from Miles Davis to Quincy Jones, who was influenced by Terry. Stripling, who spent part of his childhood in St. Louis, has returned to the city to pay tribute to Clark Terry at Jazz at the Bistro.

When the funk comes to St. Louis, it sounds a lot like the blues. The city is known for blues and jazz, not the classic funk sounds of James Brown and George Clinton. Art Dwyer plays with the Soulard Blues Band and says funk isn’t easily defined. For him funk is a visceral reaction.

Webster Groves’ largest music festival returns for a 14th year Saturday.

“Great musicians continue to develop here, and it’s really wonderful to give them a chance to get exposure on a big stage in front of up to about 12-, 13,000 people every year,” said Terry Perkins, the festival’s music director.

Streets will be closed and performances will take place on two stages at Allen and South Gore avenues, just north of Lockwood Avenue. The festival starts at noon.

The festival, which had been set for Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 30-31, has now scheduled three local bands for Friday night, Aug. 29. Everett Dean will take the stage at 6 p.m. Friday, followed by Billy Peek at 8 and Marquise Knox at 10.

The Friday night performances lead up to a weekend of 24 more national, regional and local acts beginning at 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday and playing until midnight.

In the dog-eat-dog world of music radio, Lou “Fatha” Thimes Sr. was top dog for a very long time.

“In broadcasting you’ve got to be able to contend with all types of personalities, your boss, the program director …” said the veteran disc jockey, leaving the sentence dangling in the 1999 book of biographies, Lift Every Voice and Sing. But, he added: “Broadcasting is a beautiful field. I’ve loved every moment of it.”

The blues will spill out the open front doors of Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis on Good Friday evening as local performers join in a service that blends religion with music rooted in city tradition.

The Very Rev. Mike Kinman, dean of the Episcopal cathedral, says blues will be incorporated throughout the program. The service will begin with a dramatic reading of gospel accounts of the passion of Jesus Christ and will conclude with a live concert.

When Jeremy Segel-Moss, guitarist with the Bottoms Up Blues Gang, conceived the idea of the Baby Blues Showcase, he probably didn’t think about the fact that his group would one day age out of the annual event. But that’s exactly what happened. The original intent was to give blues musicians under the age of 30 a chance to shine for one night at BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups.

This Saturday, Grand Center, Inc. and Jazz St. Louis team up to present a showcase of American music. The event will take place at five venues in Grand Center and will feature performances by six local bands.

When they first started planning the event, they were going to present music across a wide range of genres, said Devin Rodino, communications and operations manager at Jazz St. Louis. But in the end they settled on American music --jazz, folk, blues, country and bluegrass.

The headliners include Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Mavis Staples and Big George Brock, however, the Festival will highlight several artists with significant ties to St. Louis including Marquis Knox and Rich McDonough & Rough Groves.